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Charity

The practice of charity means the voluntary giving of help to those in need who are not related to the giver.

The word "charity" entered the English language through the Old French word "charité" which was derived from the Latin "caritas".

Originally in Latin the word caritas meant preciousness, dearness, high price. From this, in Christian theology, caritas became the standard Latin translation for the Greek word agapē, meaning an unlimited loving-kindness to all others. This much wider concept is the meaning of the word charity in the Christian triplet "faith, hope and charity", as used by the Douay-Rheims and the King James Version of the Bible in their translation of St Paul's Letter to the Corinthians. However the English word more generally used for this concept, both before and since (and by the "King James" Bible at other passages), is the more direct love. (See the article Charity (virtue))

St Paul's agapē was not primarily about good works and giving to the poor (And though...

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Geoff Livingston co-founded Zoetica to focus on cause-related work, and released an award-winning book on new media Now is Gone in 2007. For the past couple of years, the social web has witnessed mega charity events like Twestival, 12 for 12k, Tweets...

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The results from this year's Twestival Global are still trickling in, but founder Amanda Rose let us know that the effort has raised more than $450,000 for Concern Worldwide, an international NGO helping fund educational projects around the world. Co...

On Thursday, March 25, the second annual Twestival Global charity event will kick off in over 175 cities across the world. Thousands of people will get together at events around the globe to help raise money for Concern Worldwide, and help the estima...

Geoff Livingston co-founded Zoetica to focus on cause-related work, and released an award-winning book on new media Now is Gone in 2007. Companies on the social web are increasingly trying to create better relationships by doing good. These social me...

Geoff Livingston co-founded Zoetica to focus on cause-related work, and released an award-winning book on new media Now is Gone in 2007. So much conversation about social networking revolves around Twitter and Facebook, but in actuality these network...

Geoff Livingston co-founded Zoetica to focus on cause-related work, and released an award-winning book on new media Now is Gone in 2007. The Haiti crisis brought to light the powerful fundraising possibilities that texting can offer to causes. But wh...

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Geoff Livingston co-founded Zoetica to focus on cause-related work, and released an award-winning book on new media Now is Gone in 2007. Last week marked the entry of everyone's favorite geek, Bill Gates, into the social media realm. The Microsoft ty...

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Megan Berry is an evangelist for Mobclix, the industry's largest mobile ad exchange, working on social media and marketing. She also blogs at The Huffington Post and the Mobclix blog. You can follow her on Twitter as @meganberry, or through the @Mobc...

Total donations to Haiti Earthquake relief funds now exceed $355 million, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy, but money isn't the only thing being donated -- many tech professionals are donating their time as well. Along with volunteer and NG...

On Wednesday, independent developers from the Mac and iPhone communities came together to raise money for Haiti in a project called Indie+Relief. Indie+Relief has just announced the total donation amount and it's pretty incredible: more than $143,000...

There is no question that maturing web technologies are bolstering online giving and social action. Seizing the power of social networking, many websites, streaming tools, and mobile platforms have increased fundraising and humanitarian relief effort...

Geoff Livingston co-founded Zoetica to focus on cause-related work, and released an award-winning book on new media Now is Gone in 2007. While terrible in scope and nature, catastrophes like the Haiti earthquake bring out the best in people. In the a...

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In the wake of the devastating Haiti earthquake, the Red Cross has already been able to raise $5 million for relief through $10 donations via text message, while Google has stepped up to the plate with a $1 million donation of its own. But lots of ot...

Want to help the people of Haiti who lost homes, friends and family members in the 7.0-magnitude earthquake yesterday? Well, there are several places online where you can easily and quickly donate without even leaving your desk. Be careful, though. S...

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As we reported last week, Ben Stiller is out with a new charity campaign called Stillerstrong and is looking to drive awareness to it through social media. Part of the strategy naturally involves viral videos starring the actor, and today Stiller’s r...

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Over the past few months, there’s been a tremendous amount of activity in utilizing social media for charitable causes. Perhaps the most notable recent example is Drew Carey’s bid of $1 million for the Twitter name @drew, with all of the proceeds bei...

As you may know, we here at Mashable are no strangers to using social media for good, whether it be on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, on your blog, or elsewhere. That's why we like to see initiatives like this upcoming one-day event from Weight Watcher...

If you're interested in doing good on Twitter, you've got an amazing opportunity coming up just around the corner. Where Twestival Global brings together charity-minded Twitterers around the world in support of a single cause, Twestival Local brings ...

If you're already familiar with the Blame Drew’s Cancer campaign (we've covered it here, here and here), you may now be getting geared up for a full-on 24-hour Blame-a-thon to support the Livestrong charity in the fight against cancer. Essentially, t...

This series is supported by Toyota Prius and presented by harmonytweets, a Twitter-based platform for filtering conversations around design, sustainability, eco technology and philanthropy. Leverage Twitter to communicate around ideals you care about...

You might remember that one year ago we asked Mashable's Twitter followers to donate funds to charity: water as part of that charity's Born in September campaign. We're happy to announce that, thanks to your generosity and a matching donation from Ma...

This series is supported by Toyota Prius and presented by harmonytweets, a Twitter-based platform for filtering conversations around design, sustainability, eco technology and philanthropy. Leverage Twitter to communicate around ideals you care about...

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For non-profit organizations and other charities, social media is potentially an incredibly powerful tool to get the word out, connect with constituents, rally support, and even raise money. But, like for any business, social media will only pay divi...

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Last year, a group of Super Mario Brother’s fanatics got together and played variations of the video game 55 hours straight for charity, raising better than $11,000 in total. This year, Mario Marathon is back, and once again the gamers are broadcasti...

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